After 15 minutes the first tequila is served up. Beforehand, Juan Carlos had explained to the around 80 passengers in rail coach number 4 of the Tequila Express all about the different types of the "agave wine", while musicians with violins and trumpets sing praises to the beauty of Mexico.
Around 10 am the train pulled by two locomotives had started rolling out of Guadalajara. Juan Carlos explains to his guests that they do not have to drink their tequila straight.
There is also a thinned-down version, as well as a margarita long-drink, but it's also mixable with cola, tomato juice or apple juice.
For simplicity's sake, these are poured from an aluminium can. Spicy peanuts and potato chips are served as well.
Outside the railcar, Zapopan is sliding past, one of the large suburbs of Guadalajara, which with its eight million inhabitants is Mexico's second-biggest city.
The train rolls past sports grounds, rubbish dumps, parks, industrial plants and huge conglomerations of tiny houses dating to the socialised housing construction program of former President Vicente Fox. Thousands of black water collectors on the rooftops are glittering in the sun.
"Is it somebody's birthday today?" Juan Carlos, wearing a large sombrero, asks over the microphone. At first, nobody is game. But then a woman raises her hand. And then the musicians spring into action. This is meant to be a fun train ride.
Amid the diversions, the guests almost fail to notice that the train has entered the hilly terrain of agave plants near Tequila, a region which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site in 2006. The area includes the Tequila volcano, the gorges of the Rio Grande river and the some 35,000 hectares of a landscape of agave cultivation, haciendas and small distilleries where tequila is produced.
After two hours, the destination has been reached: Amatitan near the city of Tequila. It is here that the Herradura distillery has its headquarters. The hacienda is a huge complex, surrounded by high walls. Within, there are hundreds of steel tanks, distillery facilities and pipes.
Hundreds of kilograms of the fruits of the blue agave are boiled for three days in the ovens. From this, Herradura produces 30,000 litres of tequila per day.
The visit winds down with a Mexican dinner served in the older part of the complex, beside one of the ovens that has been shut down. Naturally, tequila is served, and once again the musicians are playing and people are dancing, while the "charros" or Mexican cowboys, show off their lasso skills.
On the return trip back to Guadalajara, most passengers refrain from drinking yet one last tequila.
Source: AAP
